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Moose on move, multiplying in Colorado as herds decline elsewhere

A moose drinks from a stream in Rocky Mountain National Park. Colorado's moose population is booming, creating opportunities for hunters but potential dangers for humans who come in contact with the large animals. (Helen H. Richardson, Denver Post file)

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK — A dozen moose transplanted in 1978 found an ideal safe harbor in Colorado's high country, multiplying rapidly and migrating across mountains into South Park and the foothills west of Denver.

Colorado's moose population now tops 2,300, up 35 percent over the past two years, beyond the state's latest target maximum number.

The surge here — at a time when moose herds are dwindling dramatically in Minnesota, Montana and Wyoming — is bewildering wildlife managers. It is creating opportunities for hunters, but also raising concerns that moose in large numbers may lead to increased conflicts with people.

"Moose are essentially pioneering on their own," Colorado Parks and Wildlife big-game manager Andy Holland said. "Available habitat, and unbrowsed habitat, is probably the main factor in why they are able to expand."

Other species, too, are finding a last best refuge in the state. Moose here join cold-weather species, including lynx and wolverines, that need cool temperatures and have shown an ability to survive in the high-elevation southern Rockies.

Demand for licenses to hunt bull moose — $251 for residents, $1,951 for out-of-staters — is higher than for any other big-game animal in Colorado.

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Meanwhile, in Minnesota, state game managers canceled the 2013 moose hunting season because of herd declines of as much as 35 percent. Losses were heaviest in the northlands, where warmer winters have favored blood-sucking ticks that attack moose and leave them more vulnerable to sickness and predators.

Once-robust moose herds in Montana and Wyoming also are shrinking. Montana has launched a 10-year study, planning to put radio collars on 90 moose, to try to find out what's happening. In Wyoming, a brain-attacking worm is suspected as a factor as a population that once topped 2,000 has declined to several hundred.

Another factor may be the relative lack of natural predators in Colorado's high country. Colorado wildlife biologists say they've documented only a few cases of black bears and mountain lions killing small moose.

Now, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are making moose a research priority, launching a study to determine how many moose is too many and the extent to which people can co-exist with moose as they migrate close to communities.

A team led by biologist Janet George, working near South Park, caught and collared one female moose. They'd hoped to track at least five, and George says they'll try again next fall.

The fatal chronic wasting disease has been detected. As a result, all moose killed by hunters in Colorado are tested for the prions associated with CWD, which causes weight loss leading to death. There's no evidence that meat of infected animals can spread CWD to humans, but tests are done as a precaution and to give wildlife managers data on the prevalence of the disease.

Before 1980, moose were seldom seen. Now, wildlife managers are talking about carrying capacity. A target population range of 1,700 to 2,200 was surpassed this year.

State biologists are studying the extent to which moose can find enough food amid drought conditions that can affect the willow, spruce, fir, aspen and grasses that moose need.

Moose often roam alone and, with dark fur, practically disappear in pine forests. A moose can weigh up to 1,500 pounds. They are velvety-horned ungulates lacking upper front teeth, relying on lower incisors to munch up to 70 pounds a day of vegetation. They swim well and run at speeds up to 50 mph.

While their vision is blurry, they have keen ears and heavy, bulbous noses that precisely pick up smells. Long, coarse fur keeps moose warm at timberline and above.

For example, young bulls from the west side of the Continental Divide led an eastward migration across the top of Rocky Mountain National Park — above timberline. Today, female moose with calves now graze in park meadows within a couple miles of Estes Park, near a recent wildfire burn zone that revitalized vegetation.

Hunters see wide opportunities. A record 16,500 applied for the 219 licenses issued last year to hunt moose. The number of moose killed increased to 185 last year from 152 in 2011.

The number of state licenses will increase to 228 this year, and more females can be hunted in Western Slope herds, Holland said. "The idea is to keep those herds in check so that we don't end up with so many that they overbrowse the habitat."

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say they're worried that moose moving closer to people on foothills hiking trails could result in more conflicts.

A moose charging from the forest in Grand County in 2010 trampled a toddler.

Four years before that, former Grand Lake Mayor Louis Heckert was attacked by an 800-pound bull moose as he walked to church. Heckert died of severe head injuries after the moose repeatedly butted him.

In several other cases, hikers have been stomped and injured severely, requiring hospitalization, state wildlife officials said.

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